லெபனானில் கிறிஸ்துவர் முஸ்லீம் கலவரத்தில் 5 பேர் காயம் ஒருவர் பலி

ஷியா பிரிவு முஸ்லீம்களும் கிறிஸ்துவர்களும் லெபனானில் மோதிக்கொண்டதில் ஐந்து பேர் காயமடைந்தனர். ஒரு போலீஸ்காரர் பலியானார்.

கிறிஸ்துவர்களது பெண்களை ஷியா முஸ்லீம் இளைஞர்கள் துன்புறுத்தியதால், கிறிஸ்துவர்கள் புகார் செய்ய சென்றது கலவரமாக வெடித்தது.



Police officer killed, five men wounded in Muslim-Christian clash in south Lebanon
The Associated PressPublished: July 22, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon: A police officer died and five men were injured Sunday in a sectarian clash between Christian villagers and their Shiite Muslim neighbors in southern Lebanon, security officials said.

The fight erupted when residents in the Christian locality of Tanbourit argued with Shiite youths from the nearby town of Ghaziyeh, blaming them of having harassed some women as they cruised around the village in their car, the officials said.

The two groups quickly scuffled and then hurled rocks at each other before shooting broke out, the officials said, speaking on conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Four Tanbourit villagers were wounded in the brawl, and a fifth was hit in the head by a bullet when gunshots erupted, they said.

Elias Samir Haj, 22, a member Lebanon's security services and a village resident, was later killed by the gunmen as he drove the critically injured villager to hospital in the nearby coastal town of Sidon, the officials said.

The Shiite youths were suspected of having fired all of the shots, officials said.

They said the army had arrested 10 men for questioning over the incident, which threatened to inflame sectarian tensions at a time when Lebanon is facing its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 civil war that tore the country apart along mostly sectarian lines.

Many Lebanese have kept weapons since the war, and the youths suspected in the shooting were not thought to belong to the Shiite Hezbollah or any other guerrilla group, the officials said.

Southern Lebanon is predominantly Shiite, but has a patchwork of communities that often congregate by religion and live in separate villages .

Lebanese troops and policemen deployed in Tanbourit to prevent renewed friction between Christians and Muslims from the two localities, which lie a few hundred meters (yards) from each other. Soldiers also raided a number of houses and hideouts in Ghaziyeh and seized the car used by the youths, officials said.

Ghaziyeh's mayor, Mohammed Samieh Ghadar, denounced the clash and vowed it would not hurt the "brotherly" ties between the two communities.

"This is an isolated incident, it will not affect our relations," Ghadar said.

The bloodshed came as Lebanon is facing its most serious political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 civil war, with the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition locked in a fierce power struggle.

The crisis has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone and led to Sunni-Shiite street clashes between pro- and anti-government factions, killing 11 people in recent months.